CHAPTER VII

He severely reproves Abaelard for scrutinizing rashly and impiously, and extenuating the power of,
the secret things of God.

17. This is the righteousness of man in the blood
of the Redeemer: which this son of perdition, by his
scoffs and insinuations, is attempting to render vain;
so much so, that he thinks and argues that the whole
fact that the Lord of Glory emptied Himself, that He
was made lower than the angels, that He was born of
a woman, that He lived in the world, that He made
trial of our infirmities, that He suffered indignities,
that at last He returned to His own place by the way
of the Cross, that all this is to be reduced to one
reason alone, viz., that it was done merely that He
might give man by His life and teaching a rule of life,
and by His suffering and death might set before him
a goal of charity. Did He, then, teach righteousness
and not bestow it? Did He show charity and not
infuse it, and did He so return to His heaven? Is
this, then, the whole of the great mystery of godliness,
which was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit,
seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in
the world, received up into glory (1 Tim. iii. 16). O,
incomparable doctor! he lays bare to himself the
deep things of God, he makes them clear and easy
to every one, and by his false teaching he so renders
plain and evident the most lofty sacrament of grace,
the mystery hidden from the ages, that any uncircumcised and unclean person can lightly penetrate to the
284heart of it: as though the wisdom of God knew not
how to guard or neglected to guard against what Itself
forbade, but had Itself given what is holy to the dogs
and cast its pearls before swine. But it is not so.
For though it was manifested in the flesh, yet it was
justified in the Spirit: so that spiritual things are
bestowed upon spiritual men, and the natural man
does not perceive the things which are of the Spirit
of God. Nor does our faith consist in wisdom of
words but in the power of God. And, therefore, the
Saviour says: I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the
wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes (S. Matt. xi. 25).
And the Apostle says: If our Gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost (2 Cor. iv. 3).

18. But see this man scoffing at the things which
are of the Spirit of God, because they seem to him
folly, and insulting the Apostle who speaks the hidden
wisdom of God in a mystery, inveighing against the
Gospel and even blaspheming the Lord. How much
more prudent would he be if he would deign to believe what he has no power to comprehend, and
would not dare to despise or tread under foot this
sacred and holy mystery! It is a long task to reply
to all the follies and calumnies which he charges
against the Divine counsel. Yet I take a few, from
which the rest may be estimated. “Since,” he says,
“Christ set free the elect only, how were they more
than now, whether in this world or the next, under
the power of the devil?” I answer: It was just
because they were under the power of the devil, by
whom, says the Apostle, they were taken captive at his
will (2 Tim. ii. 26), that there was need of a liberator
285in order that the purpose of God concerning them
might be fulfilled. But it behoved Him to set them
free in this world, that He might have them as freeborn sons in the next. Then he rejoins: “Well, did
the devil also torture the poor man who was in the
bosom of Abraham as he did the rich man who was
condemned, or had he power over Abraham himself
and the rest of the elect?” No, but he would have had
if they had not been set free by their faith in a future
Deliverer, as of Abraham it is written:
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness (Gen. xv. 6). Again:
Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad (S. John viii. 56). Therefore even then the Blood of Christ was bedewing
Lazarus, that he might not feel the flames, because he
had believed on Him who should suffer. So are we
to think of all the saints of that time, that they were
born just as ourselves under the power of darkness,
because of original sin, but rescued before they died,
and that by nothing else but the blood of Christ. For
it is written: The multitudes that went before and that
followed, cried saying, Hosanna to the Son of David,
Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord (S. Matt. xxi. 9). Therefore blessing was given to
Christ coming in the flesh, both before He came and
afterwards, by multitudes of those who had been
blessed by Him, although those who went before did
not obtain a full blessing, this, of course, having been
kept as the prerogative of the time of grace.